A Treasure Box of Photos and Negatives
Our maternal grandfather Leon Harman Grayson (1906-1993) moved from his native Savannah, Georgia to Washington, D.C. in the mid-1930s when he accepted a position in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Justice Department. His bride Mary Julia Bell (1909-2001) soon joined him. Among our treasures is a box containing more than five hundred Grayson and Bell family photos and negatives going back more than 130 years, most dating from 1935-1955.
The National Mall
Washington D.C. is divided into four quadrants with the U.S. Capitol building at its hub. North Capitol Street separates Northeast (NE) from Northwest (NW), South Capitol Street splits Southeast (SE) and Southwest (SW), and East Capitol Street dissects NE and SE. NW and SW are separated not by a street but by the National Mall, a twenty-five block-long by four block-wide public space today interspersed with museums, monuments, memorials, gardens, walking paths, ponds and pools, and surrounded by government buildings, notably the Federal Triangle complex in NW.
Federal Triangle
Federal Triangle was built between 1927 and 1935 and is architecturally unified by red tile rooftops, limestone faҫades, and classic columns. Leon’s office was soon to be in the Justice Department building on Constitution Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets facing the National Mall. Our grandparents took numerous photos of each other in front of these new buildings one winter day ca. late 1936, and crossed the street to the Mall to take some photos there.
A Barren Mall
Leon took a photo with 14th Street and the Washington Monument at his back, looking east toward the unseen Capitol. Mary is standing about 25 to 50 yards away on a rather barren and desolate expanse of grass. On the hilltop at the far right the tallest tower of the red-sandstone Smithsonian Castle (built ca. 1855) is visible. On the Mall over her right shoulder is the domed Natural History Museum, completed in 1911. Automobiles are visible crossing the Mall on 12th Street, one clearly pointed toward the Federal Triangle buildings on Constitution Avenue. From left to right in our view those buildings are the Mellon Auditorium (with its six Doric columns) and the connecting ICC (now EPA) building, the IRS building (across from the Natural History Museum), and Leon’s Justice Department offices. The National Archives is the building between 9th and 7th Streets at the blurry periphery of our vision.
An Unexpected Airship
But wait, is that an airship in the sky above the ICC building? Surely Leon realized this craft was operating nearby, but we’ve found no other photos of it. World War I and following was the heyday of these dirigibles (from the French meaning “steerable“). By the mid-1930s it was unclear what exactly the mission of these craft was to be, especially with the rise of commercial and military airplanes. The Empire State Building, completed in 1931, included a mooring mast for airships which was never used. The U.S. Navy’s most noted airships of the era, the USS Akron and USS Macon, were lost in crashes in 1933 and 1935 respectfully. The U.S. Army apparently had a limited program in late 1936, but ceased operations completely in 1937. The Hindenburg disaster in November 1937 further dampened enthusiasm, though the U.S. military did utilize some airships for anti-submarine coastline patrol during World War II.
All this to say, I am unable to identify the airship in the photo. Yet there it is, on a winter day above the National Mall in Washington D.C. Pretty cool, huh?
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